The Houseman's return
by ZoZo126
Summary: This tells the story of the Houseman family returning to Kellermans after 16 years with a girl looking for answers about her dead father. Little does she know that there's a lot more to the summer of 1963 than she could ever imagine.
1. Hey Baby

I'm stuck in the summer of 1980, everybody calls me Baby and it doesn't occur to me to mind. that was after the Beatles came, but before John Lennon was shot, when I couldn't wait to get into either The Harkness Ballet School or the Joffrey Ballet School and I wanted to be a dancer, just as my father had, he died before I was born but I knew I'd be a Daddy's girl if he was still around.

I close my Mother's battered copy of The Fountainhead and look out of the window at the green trees swooshing past. I begin to think about my Father, a habit I had picked up over the years. I knew he was good-looking, my Mother told me that, but she had always been reluctant to speak about him, her brown eyes growing sadder as I probed her about him.

It had been my Nana Marge that had told me all about him. He was tall with dark hair and was a brilliant dancer and he had been my Mother's first love. She was completely in love with him and Nana says she recieved a letter telling her of his death which had shaken her up. He never knew she had been pregnant with me and she regrets that. I try to conjure him up but I don't get much further than the dark hair and piercing eyes. Thats about as far as I always get.

I turn my mind to the new place we're visiting for our summer vacation. Smothermans? Kellermans. That's what it's called. Nana Marge and Grandad Jake took Mum and Aunt Lisa there one summer and I've always been told it was a memorable one. Grandad was good friends with the owner Max Kellerman, but he passed the business onto his Grandson Neil, who Aunt Lisa and Uncle Rob named their son after. "A slimeball" Mum and Nana had called Neil Kellerman multiple times.

"Oh my word, its exactly the same!" Nana exclaims, interrupting my thoughts and pointing at a battered brown sign on the road side reading "Kellermans, Mountain House."

"No its not-" my Mother buts in, "Now it says Neil Kellerman welcomes you."

"Is that the slimeball?" I ask loudly but politely.

"But out Baby." My Grandad says with mock sarcasm and my Mother laughs out loud. I'm generally a bright kid but I can't workout what those two are spluttering about and neither can Nana by looking at her face, but then hers screws up into laughter as well. I giggle, assuming their laughing at my comment and go back to the window to see we're driving up a long private road. Kellermans.

_when you turned and_

_walked away_

_that's when I wanted to say_

_come on baby give me a whirl_

_I wanna know if you'll be my girl_


	2. Be my Baby

"What is this? Am I supposed to be spending Summer Vacation HERE?" I say without thinking, startling myself with my rudeness.

"Penni Billie Houseman, don't be so rude, what do you say to your Grandparents?!" My mother explodes back at me. Woah, bit harsh there Mum... I look and see that even my Nana and Grandad are taken aback by the unusual anger that my Mother is expressing towards me. This place must be special to her.

"Sorry Mum, I didn't realise this place was important to you, its just a lot different to the kind of holidays we usually go on." Actually, its far from the holidays we usually go on, we have trips to Europe, 22 countries in 3 days and that kind of thing. Not a mountain resort which is home to the Fox-trot. What the hell is a Fox-trot?

We get out the car to be greeted by a dark slimy haired man pushing a balding man I recognise as Max Kellerman. He wasn't in a wheelchair last year at Grandad's birthday Party. I look at Mum and she whispers "Stroke, 3 months ago, don't mention it." I attempt to envolope him in a hug which proves difficult as he can't move his left arm but we manage. I go to the car to get the bags out and I jump as a hand overlaps mine on the handle of Aunt Lisa's suitcase dedicated to shoes.

"Alright there, I ain't gonna hurt ya!" I spin round to see a cute guy in a dirty white t-shirt. Woah, he sure is fine. His blue eyes lap me up as he says "Hey there."

"Sorry I didn't realise there was anyone behind me," and I turn back round to get the case. He's totally checking me out.

"Hey I'm the one with the job here! You'll get me the sack!" He chuckles and moves me aside and picks up 6 suitcases at once. Wow. Now its time for me to check him out. I don't have time to move my eyes and he catches me looking at his broad arms as he turns round. He winks "Catch ya later. Got cases to unload" and off he walks. I lean back against the car and my cousin Sylvia comes over as her car with her two brothers, Neil and Robbie and her parents Aunt Lisa and Uncle Rob has arrived and been unloaded while I was dallying with...oh my God, I didn't get his name!

"Starting already, you cheated cause you got here first" she laughs, joining me at watching him walk up some old concrete steps and I grin back to her.

"He totally just checked me out." I say proudly, adding "Perhaps he has a brother." We both giggle and get called back to our family where I'm supposed to be greeting Neil. So the slimy black haired guy is Neil, I figure as he kisses mine and Sylvia's hand in turn. Ew. I look at Sylvia and we share a glance and I splutter, disguising it as a cough.

The best thing about family holidays is, Sylvia is my best friend. This holiday is looking better already.

_The night we met I knew I needed you so_

_And if I had the chance I'd never let you go_

_So won't you say you love me? I'll make you so proud of me_

_We'll make them turn their heads every place you go_


	3. Big Girls don't Cry

_**Oh I should have said before I think, I don't own Dirty Dancing (considering it was made before my time) I do not own all the Characters in this story, although I do own some, those being Penni, Sylvia, Robbie, Neil. They have the same names as those in the film but I'm sure you can work it out if you've seen it :)**_

I feel so stupid! After unpacking and eating, we went up to the Gazebo for a meringue class. There was a girl, about 20, teaching and I found out her name is Frances. She was really kind and she was interested in my enthusiasm for dance and we got talking after the lesson. She was talking about that Fox-trot thing that Kellermans is really big on, and I asked what it was. At first she thought I was joking and then she went serious and her mouth dropped open. She exaplained it, and as she did, I realised she was talking about the the Slowfox so I said so, but she obviously thinks I was trying to be cool by saying so.

I walk back to our room in the pouring rain, the weather matching my mood as I tread through the puddles. Eugh. I can't believe I said that. She was so nice and we would have been good friends but she must think I'm so weird.

I get back to find Sylvia buzzing on the bed adjacent to mine in our tiny room.

"Guess what!" she explodes as I slump through the door.

"What?" I dart back, this will be interesting, Sylv always cheers me up with a bit of gossip.

"I've got a date. Tonight. And so do you!" She exclaims. A date? Really? I want to get to know that suitcase kid a little better and I tell her so.

"Sylv, thats really sweet, but I want to see who the suitcase boy is cause I think I'm onto a good thing there."

"Baby, if you'd let me finish, you'd find out your date is with him! And like you predicted, he does have a brother! And I am dating him tonight!"

"Oh." I sit on the bed, in my sopping wet clothes. The one thing about Sylvia is that she does tend to set me up with people without telling me before. The boys she sets me up with are nice enough but I like to get to know them before I agree to a date. Actually, to tell the truth, I wanted to talk to that boy myself.

"Whats his name?" I ask after a pause.

"Jake. And his brother is Johnny." Johnny, I'm sure I've heard that name before...

"Jake. No way." I say, half serious, haugh laughing. "Just my luck to find the perfect guy and find out he has the same name as my Grandad." I chuckle, not sure if I like the fact I'm dating a guy with his name.

"Thats not all, if you would let me _finish!_ You have such a bad habit of interrupting Baby! He's named after Grandad Jake! Johnny was telling me that about 17 years ago or so, his Mum was expecting but she wanted to abort to keep her job and something messy happened and Grandad took care of her!"

"Wow, thats so weird! Gee, what a small world." I think back to the time that Grandad would tell us his stories, but he never told us this. I wonder why-

"Oh my God, Baby we have no going out clothes!"

"Oh shit!" Our parents, or parent in my case, told us not to take too showy offy clothes because we wouldn't be leaving the resort much.

I guess its shopping time!

_Shame on you your Mama said_

_Shame on you, you cried in bed_

_Shame on you, you told a lie_

_Big girls do cry_


	4. Where are you Tonight?

We giggle as we walk up to the main house in step with each other. After the tinyist bit of jealousy towards my cousin Sylvia had passed, I began to get very excited for my date tonight, and so did she. The only problem was getting someone to cover for us. We knew Robbie would be in the main house trying to spy out "that hot Frances chick" as he called her. Its so strange that our names cross over. My date was named after my Grandad and Frances is my Mother's name. On the way, we bump into Max. Oh shit.

"And what are you two young ladies doing here alone?" He asks with a smile on his face.

"Hi Max!" I say and I give him another awkward hug before Sylv does the same. "Actually, we're just looking for Robbie- Junior." I add as I see his eyes narrow at the name. Me and Sylvia have come to the conclusion that it's obvious Uncle Rob isn't liked by many people but neither of us have the courage to ask why.

"Oh I saw him earlier escorting Frances, the young dance girl, or rather being escorted by Frances to the staff HQ hall. Being the manager, I never would have let a non-staff member go near that place, but I've gotten soft in my old age."

"Do you think...?" Sylv asks politely.

"Oh yes, of course, darling girls, of course you can go, just don't tell my Neil so." We each kiss him on the cheek and leave in the direction that Max is pointing, up those old concrete stairs that Jake was walking up earlier. "You look lovely by the way!" He calls after us.

I must admit, we both look pretty hot. I'm wearing a long sleeved, low backed red top with slashes in the arms with tight black jeans and Sylv is wearing a blue and black lacy corset top with the same jeans. We speak about Max as we hike up those concrete steps in our high heeled boots.

"Poor old Max, I remember Mom and Dad telling me that he'd had a heart attack before Mum and Aunty Frances came before, God knows what he's been going through."

"I know, I love him to bits and the stroke was so sudden. We only saw him in October for Grandad's birthday and now look at him, stuck in a wheelchair and paralysed."

Our conversation is drowned by the sounds of 60's music. Yes! Me and Sylv grew up on this music and its a great comfort that other people will know who Frankie Valli and Bill Medley are.

We walk in to the smell of smoke and stale beer but it's a great atmosphere. Everyone is dancing, either close up or partly proffessional and it's great. I spy out Frances and see that she is busy doing the close up dancing with Robbie and that their mouths are even closer.

"ROBBIE! Cut that out!" Sylv says as she sees them.

"Its okay, he's very good at it." Frances smiles and Sylv glares back at her.

"Hey Frances-" I start but she interrupts, just like I would.

"Frankie, please. Neil insists I get called Frances but until I'm older I prefer Frankie." She smiles again.

"Sorry, Frankie, I wanted to apologise for my idiotic behaviour earli-" she interrupts again - wow thats really annoying, I get why everyone gets annoyed at me now.

"Don't mention it, I didn't think you were idiotic anyway, you're allowed to know the Fox-trot as something else." She chuckles. Robbie's arm snakes around her waist and he looks at me like he's seen me for the first time. Ugh this is degrading. Sylv seems to sync in with my thoughts, by snapping her fingers in his face.

"Hello, Earth to Robbie? Your girlfriend is there." pointing towards Frankie who laughs. Robbie looks at Sylv with pure hatred. "Yeah hi." she starts again. "We need you to cover for us."

"Why were are you going?-" he asks but Frankie interrupts yet again.

"I know, they're going on a double date with my two brothers."

"WHAT?" Me and Sylv explode in unison.

"Yeah didn't you know? There's three Kostecki triplets." She smirks. How were we supposed to know there were triplets? Me and Sylv glance at each other. This is going to be difficult as firstly, my first impression of Frankie was wrong, I now find her annoying and secondly, it's a tradition that Sylv hates any girl going out with her twin brother.

"Yeah sure I'll cover. For ten bucks. Each."

"Ughh." We both know he would have wanted paying, but we also know that Neil would have asked for more. We hand over the cash and leave sharpish as we realise we're late.

Oh shit.

_I look at the moon and a single star_

_It's makin' me crazy wonderin' where you are_

_I reach out and touch that heavenly face_

_Open my hand and there's empty space_

_**Hey :) If you didn't realise already, I'm about to fill you in. Obviously Penni is Baby (Frances Houseman) and Johnny Castle's daughter and is named after Penny Johnson from the movie. Lisa Houseman and Robbie Gould got married and had twins, Sylvia (after Sylvia Schumacher) and Robbie (after Robbie), then had a younger son, named after Neil Kellerman. Billy Kostecki (Johnny's cousin in the movie) had triplets with Penny Johnson named Johnny after Johnny Castle, Jake (after Jake Houseman as he looked after her in the movie) and Frances after FrancessHouseman from the movie.**_

_**Its a little confusing but hopefully you get the gist :) comments please? **_


	5. Overload

we walked arm in arm, careful to make sure we didn't stumble on the uneven ground, gossiping about the blossoming relationship between Robbie and Frankie.

"I know its custom for me to dislike any of Robbie's girlfriends, but she seems to be really annoying like she would get on my nerves anyway. At least it gets his attention away from you, he's got it bad for you , you know Baby."

"Yeah I noticed that tonight with the way he looked at me. Strange times."

"She's just so...irritating. Ugh. I'll speak to her tomorrow."

"Cool. Whatcha gonna say?"

"Something along the lines of...Stay away from me, stay away from my brother, or I'll have you fired."

"That would make you dating her brother quite difficult."

"You're right Baby. You can't win no matter what you do." I don't know if she was being serious or not about speaking to Frankie, but I wanted to get off the subject f her before we close enough to the Main House for her brothers to hear.

"So do you think Johnny might be the one?" I ask politely.

"Nah, I don't think so, I don't trust holiday romances after-" She stopped abruptly, looking at the floor as though she wanted to kick herself.

"After my Mum meeting the love of her life then him dying before finding out I was on the way?"

"Erm..yeah. Sorry." She said miserably.

"Sylv, its fine. It's not like it's your fault." I hate it when people say sorry about somebody dying, it's not as if they murdered them, it really pisses me off.

"And anyway, I've got my mum, and she's been great to me. Never pushes me away, and she's always there for me."

"What's it like growing up without a father?" A voice behind us startles the pair of us- this journey was beginning to take longer and longer. And we were beginning to get later and later. We turn around to see a tall broad man. He's quite attractive really in a weird older man way.

"Ermm I don't know any different so I don't know. I guess it was hard as there was only one income but other than that its just like one long girly sleepover."

He chuckled at that and he looked into my eyes as though he was looking into my soul. This guy was giving me the creeps, but I felt a warm feeling flood through me as he looked into me. He was in his late 30's I'd say, but he was handsome in a mature way.

"I'm Johnny, Johnny Castle." He smiled, extending his arm. He had a date tattooed on him. "Summer 1963" and a small heart on his wrist. Where had I heard it? Oh yeah, Mom often spoke about the summer of 1963.

"I'm Penni, but everyone calls me Baby." I said, taking his hand. He looked very pale then and for a second I honestly thought he was going to vomit on my new boots.

"Well, its nice to meet you...Penni. I hope that perhaps I'll see you at dance lessons."

"Oh no, I don't need lessons in dancing, I've grown up with it. I'm going to Ballet school in the fall."

He paused, looking shocked. "Well, ahem, I guess I'll see you around." He nodded and Sylv and stalked off ahead. I looked at Sylv.

"My God." She said.

"What?" I replied.

"That guy was so creepy. Why did you tell him your name, he's probably a complete weirdo!"

"He told me his, I didn't want to be rude." I didn't comment on her saying he was creepy. I felt a strange connection with him that I'd never had with anybody else in my life. He intrigued me, and I knew that although something told me it was risky. I was going to book a dance lesson with him first thing in the morning.

"Come on, we better run, we're 10 minutes late now." Sylv exclaimed.

_I follow you home every night _

_Just to make sure that you get there alright _

_Baby it's true _

_Can't think of anything but you _

_**Hey author's note, if I count as an author. Please comment, it would be good to hear what you think! I'm sorry the chapters are short but hopefully there'll be a lot of them! hopefully you're enjoying the twists etc. but I won't know unless you comment! :)**_


	6. Hungry Eyes

We carried on through the dark, worried we might lose our way as we didn't really know where we were going. We began to talk about Sylv and her dad. She doesn't enjoy living at home, her Mum is far too girly for her and likes to use her Dad's access card to go shopping with money they don't have. And her Dad...well her Dad was Rob, and that's that.

"Its not that I don't like him, its just that he has this presence is like a weight, he brings people down. Except my Mum of course, she's as in love with him as she was the day they met. And I know that he's cheated on her several times." To be honest, I had figured that out too, but I could never admit that to Sylv.

" Of course he wouldn't Sylv, he's not like that."

We walk on in silence, climbing the hill on grass because its pitch black and we can't find a path.

"I think we're going the wron-" I stop as I trip backwards. I know this is going to hurt a lot so I squint my eyes as I tumble back towards the rocks.

But it doesn't happen. What happened? I keep my eyes shut and yell; "Did I die? Because that didn't hurt." I hear a gruff laugh close to my face and I freeze. That's not Sylv. What if it's that Johnny Castle and he really is a weirdo that's been following us? Reluctantly, I open my eyes to see something that could be excused for some kind of God.

He's perfection. I melt into his dark eyes just like my Mother did to My Father during their final dance (gossiping with Nana, she said too much one christmas over a bottle of Sherry). I can't get out of his arms yet, so I slip my arms around his neck, "Help me up?" I ask. Our eyes glued on one another, he picks me up and puts me on my feet, sliding his hand round my waist as he does so. Oh, his eyes are making me feel giddy. Jake was hot, but this guy, this guy is the one. I can feel it. I can see he does too, as the our hands on each other's body cause sparks to fly around us. I could stay like this forever.

"I'd love to stay ma'am, but I'm afraid I have a date, I'd say wish me luck but after seeing you, I'm not sure I want to get lucky with the other girl." He murmurs against my ear. "Hope you're alright ma'am." He says loudly, and I thank him. He has a date. Of course he has a date. How could he not have a date? Stupid idiot imbecillic me thinking he'd be single.

I turn to Sylv to start spouting about my electric feelings for the stranger to see that he has embraced her in a hug. A second later there's a pair of hands on my eyes. A date. Of course. He's dating Sylv. And I'm dating Jake. And I have to spend the evening trying not to fall back into Johnny's eyes. I look through Jake's fingers to see that he's panic stricken too. I wonder if he feels the same way I do.

_Now I've got you in my sights_

_With these hungry eyes_

_Now did I take you by surprise_

_I need you to see_

_That you were meant for me_


	7. Will you still Love me Tomorrow?

He writes poetry. My passion second to dancing, and he's the dance staff. It's a match made in heaven. I would say that the reason I know he writes poetry is because sylv told me, but I found out before that, when I was lying awake at 3am; thinking about Jake, thinking about Johnny Castle and thinking about him and those eyes of his.

Oh shit. I need to stay away from him. Like really. I sound just like a love-struck teenager.

That's when he appeared at the window. Scared me half to death he did, and I almost screamed, but I stopped myself. I put my hand on the window, and so did he. It was like there was no glass in between, I could still feel his warmth, like electricity through my veins. An addiction.

I didn't speak to him, or even touch him, he just slipped a piece of paper under the window, eyes still on my face the whole time, both of us in a trance. He gestured for me to read and so I did, even if I did feel cheesy doing it. It read:

"Can I believe what I am seeing, what I am feeling

Something so rare, watching her there

She makes my heart stop.

Meet me tonight, 7pm under the bridge by the staff HQ - DON'T BRING SYLVIA.

Johnny."

I look up but he was gone. I wish I could have looked into his eyes. I flop back onto the pillows and sigh. I'll allow myself just a little bit more of him to seep into my mind. I wonder if he kissed Sylv after I claimed a migraine and went home. No doubt she'll be eager to tell me in the morning if he did. I had avoided it when she came in by pretending to be asleep, but no doubt I'll have to listen to her babble on about him all day tomorrow.

Wait, what am I saying? Johnny is dating Sylv, she's supposed to babble on about him. She's my best friend. Of course I'm not going to meet him.

I think.

Oh shit.

_Tonight with words unspoken _

_You say that I'm the only one _

_But will my heart be broken _

_When the night meets the morning sun? _


	8. Yes

_Later that morning..._

"Baby, what in the hell do you think you're doing? I told you last night, he's a complete weirdo! Please don't get yourself involved with this guy, he gives me the creeps." Sylv's words cut into mine, now it was her turn to interrupt.

"But I can't just leave him, he said I should go for dance lessons-" I argued, but she backed me into the corner and looked into my eyes:

"Baby, you gotta listen to me. You remember what you're always telling me? Don't get mixed up with those people-"

"I know what I'm doing Sylvia, -"

"Baby, you gotta stop it _now_-"

"Nobody puts Baby in the corner. Sylvia, leave your cousin alone." Cut in Grandad Jake. Oh no, how much had he heard? Sylvia gave me a long look, and left sharpishly. Although he was old, you didn't want to get on the wrong side of Grandad. He gave me a sideways look:

"Are you alright Baby? Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"No Grandad." I smiled, kissed his cheek and he smiled softly, before I skipped out of the room. It was good being Grandad's favourite, even though I sometimes regretted it. I think it's because I never had a father. I almost dashed straight into Sylv, who had been waiting at the door.

"Don't worry Sylvia, I won't go to him." I promised, before skipping right past her and uncrossing my fingers. I was going to have to get used to lying to her, so I might as well start now.

As I dashed along the lakeside, I felt my pockets for the note. Oh good, it's still there. I don't fancy Sylv finding it. Actually...

I stopped abruptly, to see that I had scuffed my favourite grey pair of boots. Oh shit. A shallow, bad mood overtook me and I did what I had planned to do over-aggresively. I ripped the first corner off of the note, intending to turn it to confetti before throwing it into the river. But I couldn't. This note was the only material to show that what I felt was completely real and besides, I couldn't pollute this beautiful lake with the lies and deceit that I would surely put into action.

I sighed, and carefully folded the note before running off again, towards the dance studios. As I came out of the woodland, I ran smack into Uncle Rob.

"And where are you off to at that speed?" He grinned at me.

"Oh, erm, I'm...they're having charades in the west lobby."

"Ooh, quite the little joiner aren't we!" He smirked at me. God, he's so slimy. What did Auntie Lisa see in him?

"Erm yeah, I'll see you later Uncle Rob." I said, before dashing off. I sure didn't fancy chatting to him for too long.

As I approached the hall, I heard one of Mum's favourite tracks playing out, Solomon Burke's "Cry To Me". Funnily enough, a tear always came to her eyes when it came on the radio or such.

As I got closer, I saw Johnny Castle sitting in the corner of the room, hunched up and deep in thought. Perhaps I better come back later, I thought, thankful that I had a reason to leave.

No, no way. I need to know who this man is and why I feel so magnetically pulled to him.

I took a deep breath and pushed open the door. Oh god, I feel like I'm in a dance that's way too fast for me and I 'm getting dizzy.

_Wastin a day_

_I'm just runnin away_

_From a heart that's burnin_

_But I can't run forever_


	9. Some Kind of Wonderful

He looked up, and shock spread across his face.

""what're you doing here? I thought you didn't want my dance lessons." He asked shortly.

"No, I said I didn't need him, not that I didn't want them." Duh. Why else would I be here?

"Oh. Well. How're you today? Those boys didn't take any advantage of you did they?" he asked seriously.

"Erm, no. I left early because I got a migraine."

"Well I don't think the two of you should see those boys anymore, they're not good for you."

"Well, thank you for the concern, but I'm sure we'll be fine. Thanks." This guy was beginning to annoy me. Who the hell did he think he was, my father?

"Hm - well, what are you here for?" He said gruffly. What had I done? Why didn't he like me?

"I'm here for a dance lesson, I thought we already established that," I laughed, "Can we keep this song on, it's my mum's favourite and has become one of mine." Again, that pale "I'm-going-to-be-sick" look appeared on his face.

"Yeah sure. Right, you know how to Merengue?" I laughed out loud at this.

"Merengue? Hell I can mambo." Again with the sick face, was I that repulsive?

"Right - well erm, we'll go over that cause I'm a little rusty on that one. I haven't done that dance in at least 16 years."

"And you call yourself a dancer instructer." I pointed out and he laughed out loud.

"Yeah, I suppose I do."

I don't know how to describe this man. I feel like he should be my protector. Warm currents flood through me when I'm with him and although I don't love him we have this connection. Its not like an older guy crush, ew no way. Usually, seeing him in the street would have triggered a "Oh, look at that guy, he's hot for an old man." and some chuckles between me and Sylv, but him, just no. I feel like I should share my whole life with him, but I don't know where to start. So, I let hiim twirl me around and joke about for the best part of three hours before I look at the time.

"Oh help, I need to get back, sorry Johnny. I'll come back tomorrow morning?" I exclaim.

"I can't, I have a lesson tomorrow morning, but I'm free from 1pm onwards?" he offers.

"Okay, thanks, I'll see you then, then." and run out the door before the awkward new friend hug thing takes place.

_I know I can't express _

_This feeling of tenderness _

_There's so much I wanna say _

_But the right words just don't come my way _

_**Hey, hopefully you haven't lost interest in the story and you still like it =) please comment! Criticism is cool, just don't be too mean to me please :3 and if you have any ideas that you'd like to be in the story, review me or inbox me and I'll try to fit it in for you :)**_


	10. You don't Own Me

As I ran back to the lodge we were in, I realised that for the full three hours that I had been with Johnny Castle, I hadn't thought about the other Johnny. And I wasn't going to think about him for the rest of the day either. I couldn't do that to Sylv, I just couldn't. As usual, being wrapped up in my thoughts led me to knock right into someone, and this someone just happened to be Johnny (junior). Oh, shit. All I need.

"Hey," he smiled "I can't wait to see you this evening Baby." He smiled, eating me up again with those eyes. No. This isn't happening.

"Look. Johnny, I-"

"I know what you're gonna say. You don't wanna hurt your friend, blah blah blah-"

"Sylvia is my cousin and also, my best friend, so, yes, you would be correct, I am NOT going to hurt or lose my best friend for some loser with twinkly eyes!" I shouted. Oh crap, he looks really hurt.

"Of course, I know. Why would you? I'm just some guy you've met and Sylv has been there for you your whole life. But tell the truth, don't you feel the electricity when we're together? The feeling that we can be whoever we want to be, and not have to worry about who or whatever?" For a moment I can't speak. All of a sudden, his arms are around me and the only thing i can do is cuddle him back, huddled behind a trash can.

I can hear music come from the mainhouse.

"Dance with-" He starts as I come to my senses. I push him away harshly.

"Look Johnny, you're real nice. And you say the right things to make me feel good. But please, for both our sakes, practice them on Sylv, and make a go of things with her. I like you, yes I admit it, but I don't like you enough to throw my best friendship away. Sorry." I leave him there, open-mouthed by amongst the rubbish. Walking away from him, and walking away from another silly romance. As I walk, I realise that I'm growing up, the old Penni would have stayed there and kissed him, only thinking of herself, but now I hold my head up and don't even regret rejecting him. And I don't think I ever will. His eyes only looked that twinkly because I was dizzy from that fall anyway.

And I bet he's a crap dancer.

_I'm young and I love to be young_

_I'm free, yeah, and I love to be free_

_To live my life the way I want_

_To say and do whatever I please_


	11. In the Still of the Nite

As I'm walking back, as if to make it clear that I am SO OVER Johnny, I run over to the main house to find Jake. I find him straight away. I walk over to him and hug him from behind, causing him to spill his drink.

"Woooaaah. Oh, hey Baby!Are you feeling better?"

"Hi Jake. Yeah thanks, I am great now. I just had a little problem I needed to get rid of. Say, are you busy this evening? Did you wanna go out? My treat to make up for last night."

"Oh...erm. I'm real sorry Baby I can't make tonight." He says, rubbing the back of his neck.

Oh.

"Oh, well, that's alright Jake. Give me a call when you're free. You know the number of the lodge I'm in." I give him a kiss on the cheek and walk away quickly.

Great, now I just look desparate. Grr I need to sort out my love life.

I know, I'll spend the evening doing some beauty therapy with Sylv tonight instead.

As I near my cabin, I see Johnny Castle walking across the golfing green and something in me makes me grin like an idiot and wave to him. He grimaces back and waves, and the clumsy oaf that I am trips on the stairs to my cabin.

"OW, fuck!" I yell, clinging to my shin and making hand gestures at the steps. Great, now Johnny Castle will also think I'm a complete idiot and I don't know why but this makes me feel sad. I turn on to my front to crawl into the cabin, slap bang into Grandad Jake.

"Number 1, no swearing. I appreciate that you're hurt but there's no need for that language. Secondly, come and have a sit up here and let me take a look at your shin." There's no point of arguing with Grandad Jake, if he thinks you're hurt, let him look. I push myself onto the banister and swing my leg up. I begin to unzip my boot to roll my skinny jeans up to show him as he says:

"Baby, who was that man you waved to a minute ago?"

"Oh him? That's Johnny castle, a dance teacher." I say, not looking up.

"How do you know him?"

"I bumped into him the other day and he suggested dance classes."

"you don't need dance lessons Baby!"

"I know, but he seemed nice so I thought I would go. We had real fun."

"Penni, this guy is a good guy - try hard to be friends with him - you never know what you might have in common. Just do me a favour - don't tell your mother I said so. Your shin is fine Baby. I need to go and meet your mother so I'll see you later" and goes inside.

I make a mental note to go back to Johnny Castle, before looking at my watch.

Hmm. what shall I do this afternoon?

_I remember that night in May_

_The stars were bright above_

_I'll hope and I'll pray_

_To keep your precious love_


	12. Stay

_That evening...the houseman's are having dinner on the resort but are missing Lisa and Rob. The two girls are talking over their food._

"Sylv, I was wondering. Do you fancy having an evening in to do some beauty therapy?"

"Oh, Baby, I'm really sorry. Mum and Dad want to go out as a family. Sorry, I'll see you in the morning for some breakfast?"

"Oh, erm, sure but I think I'm meeting Jake for breakfast in the morning too if you want to come?" I look at Sylv and she doesn't look convinced that this is a good idea. Honestly, it's not like we're going to sit snogging in front of her. I haven't even kissed him!

"I could do. I'll tell you tomorrow what's happening."

Neither of us say another word. She eats her food in a painful silence and I contemplate about telling her about Johnny and Johnny Castle. Why do I get myself into these situations? So we stick to the awkward silence that we've never had and eat our food. I can feel Grandad Jake's eyes on me, pondering over what could possibly had made us so distant with each other.

She probably just has period pains or something. It'll go soon I'm sure.

After we finish dinner I go over to Grandad Jake who is coming back into the resteraunt after getting some fresh air. He turns around as I come towards him and with his arms open, envolopes me into a hug. He smells of home. Home; where we don't lie to our best friends and we don't form weird friendships with the dance teachers.

"Hey Grandad."

"Hey sweetpea." he says kissing me on the head, "I hope that you and Sylvia haven't fallen out over one of those boys. Love is important but you must never fall out with your friends over it." I look at him in bewhilderment. Sometimes I think he should have become a psychologist, not just a doctor. "No matter what, your friends are what matter the most, don't forget that Penni. That's not what this is about right?"

"Grandpa, I'm not going to fall out with Sylvia over nothing." I say with an uncertain smile.

"That was a stupid thing to ask. Forgive me." He says and takes me in his arms again. "Are you going to see that Johnny Castle again before we leave?"

Johnny Castle...why does that name always sound familiar when coming from somebody else's lips?

"I think so yeah. Grandad?"

"Yes honey?"

"Who is Johnny Castle? You said he was a good guy, how do you know him?"

"Oh, he was here the last time me and Nana bought Lisa and your mother here, I didn't like him at first but now I must say I would have loved to have gotten to know him better. You would do well to have a serious talk with him."

"But why? He seems nice and everything. What else is there to him?"

"Baby, just trust me okay?" Grandad isn't annoyed but stalks off to show me that this conversation is over. I better do what he says. I go back to the table to my mother and give her a hug.

"Hey Baby, to what do I owe this pleasure?" I think she may be annoyed with me for not spending too much time with her over this holiday. I make a mental note to talk to her a little more for the rest of the two weeks.

"Hey Mum, I was just wondering, how close was Grandad with Johnny Castle?"

_Now your daddy don't mind_

_And your Mommy don't mind_

_If we have another dance, ya_

_Just one more time_


	13. Stay II

_**Hey guys, thanks so much for your reviews! If I hadn't got them, I would probably have lost inspiration for this story by now so I'm glad you've written them :) My exams are done, so expect a few more chapters in the next few weeks! Thanks for waiting :) Also, I realise reading back on them that there are a few spelling mistakes - so sorry about that, I'll improve on that, promise!**_

I'm sitting in my half of the room the next morning with one side of my hair straight and the other curled, the way my mother's hair used to be. Although my curls are natural, she had a perm. My head is cocked to one side, seriously considering the pro's and con's of each style._ If it's straight, it might go kinky, but if I leave it curly, the chances are it will go flat...and look kinky. _I sigh, I'm really not getting anywhere. Maybe I'll tie it up. As I pull my hair up into a nice style, I drop it again and put my hair in my hands. I had a crap evening in all on my own last night and I'm not functioning at all after what Grandad Jake told me.

_"Try hard to be friends with him - you never know what you might have in common."_

He MUST know him. I know they were here before, but that was before I was born and Johnny Castle just doesn't look old enough to have worked here that long. I've always looked quite young for my age but I have big boobs, so that makes me look older. Actually, thinking about it, we have quite a lot in common; we both enjoy dance and like the same music, and we both clearly like my mother. When I told him my name that time on the first night, when I mentioned she loved "Cry to Me", his eyes went sad. He must have been here the time they vacationed here before, but he just doesn't look old enough to have worked here nearly 20 years ago. We have that in commo-

_ARGHHH, _I'm just going round in circles! I lean back in my seat and topple right over, banging my back on the corner of my bed. Grandad Jake comes running in:

"BABY, what are you doing? Are you okay?" He yells, picking me up and automatically slides the back of my shirt up and examines my back. Some people would think this is weird, but it's just Grandad Jake. "Well, you seem okay, straighten yourself out."

I do as I'm told and his mouth hangs open as he looks me up and down at me in my long-sleeved red top with the slashed shoulders, bootcut black jeans and my spikey boots, not my usual choice of outfit but I want to look a bit more mature.

"Baby I.." and he stops. He tries again; "Baby, when I said try hard to be friends with Johnny Castle I didn't mean-" and he's cut out my shrieks of hysterical laughter. "Grandad! No way! I wouldn't date Johnny Castle! I'm meeting Jake!" I manage to splutter, clutching my sides. He exhales.

"Oh thank God!" he sighs, beginning to chuckle. "Honestly, imagine me setting you up with your own-" He stops shortly and goes very pale. What's he playing at? I scowl at him, something only I, his favourite Grandchild is allowed to do to him.

"My own what Grandad?"

"Your own...dance teacher. Now I have to meet Max Baby, enjoy your Breakfast date." and he saunters out past me. _What the...?_

I'm about to go after him when he scuttles back.

"And Baby, about your hair, leave it natural, it looks better your way." and leaves again. I would go after him but I need to get my hair done and I only have 40 minutes until I meet Jake. Better go wash my hair again.


	14. Love is strange

As I walk towards the restaurant, I think about Sylv. I can't believe she actually went for a meal with her family last night. I'm not condoning it, it's just strange considering she usually does anything to avoid family time and I gave her the perfect opportunity. Hmm. I realise that I've hardly thought about Johnny. It's so difficult though. I want to be able to say that I'm maturing, and feeling like I felt when I actually walked away. But I don't. I have to make myself not think about him. He's with Sylv and I need to accept it. I think I'm going to have to break things off with Jake though, I don't want to hurt him; he's a decent guy. I push open the doors into the restaurant and spot Jake straight away in a black t-shirt, jeans and leather jacket. Mmm, my kinda guy. Maybe I didn't have to break up with him...

"Hey Baby!"

"Hey Jake, did you have a good evening last night?" He goes pale. What's up with him?

"How did you know I was out last night?"

"Erm, because you told me you dope!" I laugh and lightly punch him on the arm. He gives a vague laugh and looks at the menu.

"So did you have a good evening?" I probe.

"Huh? Oh yeah sure it was okay." He looks so uneasy.

"Jake what's wrong?"

"huh? Nothin'"

"Jake I'm not fucking stupid. What's happened. Just tell me." He's winding me up now, what's his deal?

"You really wanna know?"

"What the hell crap have you got yourself mixed up in?"

"No no, nothing bad. Well, not that kinda bad." What?

"Look Jake, you're freaking me out. Tell me what is wrong."

"I don't wanna." Oh my God, what is his problem?!

"Jake. Tell me what is wrong before I remove your lungs with this teaspoon." He laughs but soon reutrns to his zombie state.

"Well..." he pauses. "Look, Baby, I really like you. Please promise we can still be friends." I want to laugh. What's this got to do with me?

"Okay, I promise."

"Right. Well you know last night I said I was busy."

"Yeah."

"I erm. I had a date." What a fucking dick. Cock. Argh why does every fucking guy I meet have to be an utter twat?

"Great, thanks. Thanks for nothing asshole." I stand up.

"No. You promised you wouldn't be angry and I haven't finished my story." Eugh, he's right I did. I scowl and sit down silently. He didn't say I had to speak to him.

"It wasn't anybody. I really think she could be the one. You're completely gorgeous, any guy would be lucky to have you, but this girl, she's just different."

"Jake, why the fuck would I care. This was just a summer thing. Go to your fucking whore."

"Hey Baby shit the hell up about her."

"Why should I give a shit about her?"

"Because it's sylvia okay. I met Sylvia last night." I look at him in shock. He's a guy. I know guys do things like this, but Sylv. She lied to my face, pretended she was playing happy families while she was snogging my boyfriend! That's why she didn't want to come this morning! But wait-

"What about Johnny? Does he know?" I ask. Why did I say that?

"Erm yeah. He didn't mind too much, he said that he liked someone else anyway and he didn't wanna hurt Sylv cause she was a great girl." Wow. Oh Wow.

"Did he say who?"

"No. Just that while he knew Sulvia was gorgeous and any guy would be lucky to have her, that this girl was just different." He looks at me for a long time and I see it dawn on him. "No!"

"Look nothing happened between us okay, you know I left early and I've been pretty much on my own since except for my dance lesson. Not like you you cheating son of a bitch." He looks at me sorrowfully and I smile. "It's okay Jake, make my cousin happy, but please don't hurt her. Please don't do that."

We stand up and hug and he says to me "Of course I'm not going to hurt her. Are you gonna date Johnny now then?"

"To be honest, I don't know. I don't wanna get my hopes up for nothing you know."

"Baby, he's a fool for you, treat him right." He kisses me on the cheek and leaves. Huh he didn't even have any breakfast. I consult my watch.

11:17

Right I can go for a jog until 12:15 then back to my lodge for a shower and then go to meet johnny Castle. Oh wait no I can't. Mom, Nana and Grandad Jake have just walked in.


	15. Where are you tonight? II

We are all eating breakfast together when a thought comes to mind. If Grandad Jake knows Johnny Casyle and Johnny Castle seems to know Mom, then it would make sense for him to know her back. I look at Grandad whose tucking into a grapefruit and ask aloud.

"Mom, who is Johnny Castle?"

My mother's face turns red, white and green all at the same time. She looks as though she is about to pass out. I dart a look at Grandad Jake, hating him for a moment because he knew I was going to ask my mother at some point. He looks at me seriously and mouths to me: "Take it easy. Don't give too much away."

For fuck's sake.

I look back to my mother, she is gripping her napkin so tightly it looks like the skin on her knuckles is going to rip. Her shoulders are shaking and she looks like she might be sweating.

"Mom! Are you alright? Have some water!" I quickly grab the jug and pour some water and hold it to her lips. "What on Earth is the matter?"

My mother slumped back in the chair collecting her thoughts.

"I haven't heard that name in about 17 years. Why do you want to know about him?"

"I just want to know who he is."

"I think he was the dance teacher here when I visited Kellerman's back in 1963. I was under the impression he had died." Died? Why would she think he had died? Surely Grandad would have told her he was alive? What did it matter? I look at him again. He closes his eyes and nods slowly. "Do not say anything." He mouths. What the fuck is all this about?

"Alright Mom, thank you. I heard a couple of people speaking about him and I thought maybe you knew. Don't worry about it." I kiss my mother's head and tell my family I have a headache and that I'm going home. I feel so confused, why would my Mother think that this man was dead and why would he make her sick like that? I decide to take a walk around the resort for a while, I feel too confused to do anything.

I go to Johhny's Dance Huts. He's there, practising. He's such a talented dancer. It makes me think about what my father might have looked like when he danced. I've never seen a man dance before so I pay attention silently. He's so graceful yet modern. I wish I could dance like him. I make it my mission for the end of the holiday. The song finishes and he turns around. He is startled by my prescence and envolopes me into an awkward hug.

"Hi Johnny. I'm really sorry but I'm not going to be able to come to my lesson today. Would it be okay to come back tomorrow? I'm sorry there's just loads going on at the moment."

"Baby are you okay? Please tell me you're okay." He's so sweet. I want to give him a big kiss.

"I'm fine I promise. Thank you for looking out for me. I've never had a father figure except Grandad Jake so it's nice. Thank you so much."

"That's okay Baby, anyti- what did you say your Grandad's name was?"

"Jake. Why?"

"It's just such a coincidence. You're Penni and he's jake. Wow. And you never had a father figure and you must be about seventeen..." He goes white. What is it with me and freaking people out at the moment?

"Johnny are you okay? Johnny? Look I have to go and clear my head. I'll come by in the morning okay?"

"Yeah that's fine. You do what you need to do Baby. Just watch yourself."

I pull my Levi jacket tighter around me and walk out and along to the lake. I sit for a while with my bare feet dipped into the cool water, taking the edge off of the humid evening. I lay back and think about Grandad Jake. Why on Earth would he keep it a secret from my Mother that Johnny Castle is alive? What difference would it make to her life? Unless. No. Johnny Castle, he wouldn't have...done anything to hurt my mother would he? No. He couldn't have. I won't believe that. I push the nagging thought to the back of my head and look at my watch.

13:02

I suddenly remember I would have been meeting Johnny if I hadn't have cocked that up as well. Grandad Jake would know that I haven't gone back to our rooms and he would know I was safe, so I just lay there, on the side of the lake, just thinking. Thinking of my mother, her dead lover, my father. I think about how my life would be different if he were alive. I doubt that I would be so close to Grandad Jake if my father had been around.

I've never cried for my father, but I will now. I sit up. I button up my jacket and jump into the lake. There is a house along the way and I want to go to it now. I swim and swim , my tears mixing with the water until I can't tell the difference between my warm salty tears and the cold murky water. Once I get to the other side I take off my jacket and leave it to dry, hoping that it will quickly because of the heat fo the night. I sit down, again with my feet in the cool water, tired from the swimming. I let my tears roll down my wet face for the parent I never had, the life I could have had, the extra support I would have had. I cry for myself, for my mother, and for Grandad Jake, a lover, a friend, a son, lost. I lay back again and look up at the stars and speak out loud.

"Where are you Dad? Which one of the stars are you? The brightest I'll bet. I wish I had known you. I have an emptiness in my life that can't be filled. My family have been great, but I so wish I had met you, even once." I then think about how my father's side of the family have never been in my life either. I have never thought about this before and I want to explore this some more. I will when I return home. But for now I will cry and cry 17 years worth of tears until my head aches and I fall asleep by the lake.

_'got to know where are you tonight baby baby _

_You baby please hear just give me some kind of sound_

_baby of what you do to_


	16. Do you Love Me?

I wake up freezing. I feel groggy as the previous hours come back to me. Seeing Mom, asking her about Johnny Castle, her going pale, Johnny Castle going pale when I spoke about Grandad Jake, leaving, swimming, the house on the other side of the lake...crying and falling asleep.

Wow, what's going on in my life? It's so messed up. I look at my watch but it's been messed up from the swimming. God knows what time it is. I need to get back but the water will be too cold to swim. If I didn't die on the way then Grandad would kill me for sure anyway.

I know, I'll go to that cabin and see if there's a phone.

I walk up the path through the trees. Wow, this is kinda creepy. I keep my head down and walk quickly. I can see it from the lake so it won't be far. As I approach it, I see the lights are on so at least somebody is inside. It's strange, this cabin being so isolated from the rest.

When I get to the door I look in but I can't see anybody. I let myself in and sit down. I can hear the shower gushing so somebody will be out in a minute. I cough loudly to make it obvious I'm here and the shower stops almost immediately. Seconds later, Johnny Castle appears in a towel with a hammer in his hand. When he sees me he drops the hammer to the ground, missing his foot by a few mere centimetres.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well I was clearing my head- like I said I was going to. Then I swam across the lake and fell asleep on this side. I don't know how to get back without swimming and it's too cold for that so I was wondering if I could use a phone?"

"Baby do you know what time it is?"

"No." I pull an awkward face and show him my water-logged watch.

"Your Mom will be doing her nut. I would be." He looks at me sideways. "You know the number for your cabin?"

"Yeah." He beckons over to the phone. "It's half past 10 if you were wondering." He chuckles. I dial the number but it rings off. "It must be busy, Aunt Lisa is probably using it to call one of her girlfriends."I yawn. Johnny looks away but says:

"You tired?"

"Very. And cold. I fell asleep in wet clothes.

"Look if you go into the bottom drawer you'll find just about an outfit. Go and shower to warm up. I can't believe you didn't tell me- I mean your Mom you were going wandering."

"It'll be okay I'll talk to Grandad Jake. He's cool."

"He is."

"How do you know him?"

"He...came here once. In the summer of 1963. He bought his wife Marj and his two girls frances and Lisa."

"Yup. You wanna know how they are now?" He looks at me for a while and slowly says

"Shoot."

"Well, Lisa married some disgusting man named Rob-"

"Robbie Gold?"

"Yeah you know him too?"

"He worked here, we got into a fight once about- a girl."

"Well they have twins Robbie and Sylv, my best friend you saw me with the other night and another called Neil."

"Typical Robbie." I can't be bothered to ask questions. "What about your Mom?"

"Well, she had a love affair. Apparently he was tall, dark and handsome and it was very passionate. They were crazy about each other." He doesn't speak for a long time. Is he jealous? Maybe he liked my Mom when she came here. Hmm.

"What happened?"

"Well, they wrote each other for a few weeks after this particular vacation, then she got an annonymous letter saying he had died. I don't know what of, but she never posted the letter telling him she was pregnant." He turns every shade of the rainbow.

"With you I'm assuming."

"Yep, and that's why I grew up without a father."

"Wow."

"Yeah. Can I shower now?" It's like I snapped him out of a dream.

"Oh yeah sure Baby, I'll get you a clean towel." He goes to a drawer and pulls out my designated outfit. It's and old pair of white jeans and a white top.

"How very 60's." I say unimpressed and he laughs.I go to shower and whilst in there I think about Johnny Castle and how intrigued he is with my family. Is he just interested into how everyone turned out or is it more? Was I right in thinking he had feelings for my mother in 1963 but knew she already had a lover? Or maybe he liked Auntie Lisa and that was the fight with Robbie? I was so confused, nothing makes sense anymore. I continued to shower and dried myself before stepping back into the 1960's with my outfit. They fitted perfectly. I walk into the next room and Johnny Castle looks up.

"You look so much like your mother."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment, so thank you."

"You should. She's so beautiful."

"I know she is. Do you mind if I go to sleep?"

"Sure yeah help yourself." He beckons over to his double bed. "You go to sleep and I'll try to get hold of Jake."

Touched, I go over to him and kiss his cheek. "Thank you so much for everything. You've changed me this week." As I climb into bed I hear him say:

"Trust me, you've changed me more than you know."


	17. Love is Strange II

Voices wake me up. I turn over and Johnny Castle is on the phone. He holds a finger to his lips to show to shush and says:

"No Jake, she's here, she's okay. Yeah we need to have a talk. I'll bring her over in thr morning. No don't tell her, I wanna suprise her. Okay, okay yeah. Bye." He comes over to me and kisses my forhead. Am I asleep? I don't know, but this is right. I hug him and say thank you again and I think I much have fallen back to sleep in his embrace.

_I'm at a fair ground. There's a carasouel and my mother is there. She has candy floss and large black sunglasses. She smiles in a way I've never seen her smile. She seems so content with her life, a side to her I've never seen before. Johnny Castle walks up behind my mother and puts his broad arms around her waiste and kisses her neck. Both of them laugh and I take a photo, capturing the memory._

I wake up again. Where am I? Oh yeah, I'm in Johnny Castle's cabin at Kellermans. He spoke to Grandad Jake on the phone I think. I look around and see him sitting in an old rocking chair, staring at me.

"You're so beautiful Baby. Go back to sleep." And I do.

_I'm in a busy hall. Bill Medley's "I've had the Time of my life is playing. There are two beautiful people on stage who dance like they were made to dance together. I see Nana Marj and Grandad Jake and even Lisa. They are all staring at the stage in awe. Where's Mom? I go over to Grandad and ask but he can't see or hear me?_

_What's going on? I need to find Mom. I look around everywhere. I see Frankie, Johnny and Jake's Mom and Dad, Billy and Penny. Huh, that's weird, my name is Penny Billie. I see Uncle Rob here too. Where the fuck is Mom? I walk down to the middle where the guy dancing has jumped and look up. That woman up there is so beautiful. Oh._

_Wait, that's Mom. I look to tha man in black who she was dancing with. Of course, it's Johnny Castle. A sub-conscious voice in the back of my head that this is the second dream I've had with both Mom and Johnny song plays and plays and I see them kissing. This is weird I tell myself._

I wake myself up and Johnny is closer to my face now.

"Sorry." He says and backs away. "It's just, you were singing in your sleep." At the same time, we both say "I've had the time of my life." I tell him:

"This evening, I've had two dreams that you're my father. I wish you were I want you to know that." He smiles and opens his mouth to speak when my expression suddenly changes. On the wall next to Johnny Castle's head is a photo. It's a young girl with curly hair sitting on a tree trunk in the woods. She's wearing the outfit I'm wearing now. That's my mother. He turns to look and sees what I have spotted and looks back smiling.

"You are aren't you." He nods slowly and we embrace again. I start shaking with tears but then I realise that it's actually Johnny whose body is shaking mine with tears. We both laugh and cry at the same time for a long time until I finally fall asleep again.


	18. Footnote

_**Hello lovely readers! Thank you for all your support. I just wanted to say I've altered my story a bit after a very clever review about my characters owning mobile phones. Of course they shouldn't have! It was the 1980's! I've also tweaked little bits here and there from where I've stayed up ever so late and made spelling mistakes while typing, so to all of my greatly appreciated followers, you may want to take a look. Thank you so much again for reading my story! Love you! xo**_


	19. Hula Hana

I wake up with the sun on my face. It feels lovely to wake up like that and I smile. Without opening my eyes, I stretch my arms up in front of me. I open my eyes and I see I'm wearing a foreign item of clothing. I don't own anything white? Then I remember. This was my mothers. And Johnny Castle is my father. Johnny Castle was the lover my mother once had and the lover she had never seen again after the summer of 1963 after his tragic dea-

he isn't dead. What the fuck?

I sit bolt upright? Johnny Castle is in the shower humming to "Love is Strange." I call out "Just so you know I'm awake now. Dad." I add, smiling all over. I couldn't have asked for a better man to be my father. Again, the shower stops immediately and Johnny Castle walks out in a towel, but there's no hammer this time. He smiles and grabs some clothes and goes back into the bathroom, presumably to change. I suddenly remember that I left my Levi jacket on the lakeside. I love that jacket. Johnny Castle won't mind if I go quickly will he? I quickly slip on the equally revolting white pumps and make towards the door. God, I hope nobody sees me. I open the door and I hear a voice behind me:

"Please don't go Baby." I turn around to see my father with sad eyes.

"Relax." I laugh, half-serious. "I'm just going to the lakeside to grab my jacket. I forgot I left it there to dry." He looks at me for a long time and then says:

"Well I'll come with you then."

"Erm, okay." We both walk out of the door and down the path in silence, but after three or four minutes I just can't resist.

"Please can you tell me the story of your love? Mom never told me, just that you were tall, dark and handsome and you made her feel alive. And of your tragic death, which you really need to explain to me."

"Well, in the summer of-"

"1963, yeah I got that." I laugh. "I can't believe I didn't work it out sooner. Your tattoo and Mom's contant referencing to that-"

"Your Mom talks about it?" I can see where I get my interrrupting habit.

"Yeah all the time, just that it was unforgettable. Go on." I encourage.

"Well, your Mom, Aunt, Nana and Grandad came to Kellermans that year." I open my mouth to speak but he cuts me off laughing. "Yes Baby, I know you know that too. Anyway. I worked here with my cousin Billy and best friend Penny. They got married you know, and had those triplets together; Johnny, Jake and Frances."

"So I'm guessing that they are named after you, Grandad and Mom."

"You guess correctly."

"And that my real name is after Penny and my middle name Billy."

"I would have thought so, but I can't be sure. Anyway, Billy kinda liked your Mom, and one evening she was helping him- carry watermelons." He stops and laughs. "Y'know, the first thing she ever said to me was "I carried a watermelon."" He says, mimicking my mother's voice. "Anyway, I danced with her; she couldn't move like we all did, but I taught her a little. That was that and she was forced to go on a date with Max's grandso-"

"Neil."

"Yes Baby, now let me finish my story." He laughs again. "When they went to the kitchens, she saw Penny crying. She was pregnant you see."

"By Billy?"

"No! That was way later. It was R-" He stops himself quickly and looks to the ground? R? I know he doesn't want to tell me the name, which means that it must be somebody I know. But who do I know beginning with R? Nobody? Except Robbie and Uncle Rob.

Oh. Oh, ew.

"Rob? Seriously?" I look at my Dad and pull a disgusted face. "Really? Did Penny have any standards?"

"Have some respect Baby. He said the right things and she thought he loved her. Anyway, she wanted to get rid of it so she could keep her job."

"I knew I was named after a friend who had a horrible time, but I didn't realise that it was Penny!" He smiled.

"Well, your mother was a traditionalist...most of the time." He smirked. What? Oh, oh. Ew. "Anyhow, your mother risked everything and asked your dad for the money for her to have an abortion. None of us could afford it see. But the only time was the night that me and her were supposed to be performing the Mambo at the Sheldrake.

Two and two came together.

"So my Mom stepped in, you taught her how to dance and you fell in love."

"You got it."

We're both very quiet for a few moments, while I absorb the love story I've been waiting to hear for my whole life. Suddenly, a very bad mood comes over me.

"Why the hell did you tell my Mom you were dead?" He looks at me and begins to talk.

"I didn't. You said that last night, I thought you were just tired. Dod she really get an annonymous letter?" Wow, he's low. Suddenly my yearning for my father evaporates and I stand up in a fiery rage, and I kick him hard in the shin.

"You lying son of a bitch. You just got fucking bored and you'd started fucking some other woman. You didn't know what else to do cause you felt bad so you forged a letter you low fucker. You don't deseve my Mom. Stay away from my family." I run off, with tears streaming down my face. How could he do this to me? It made sense that he used it as an excuse but to lie to my face after all this time? I feel like my heart is breaking. I can hear him chasing after me and shouting my name but I ignore him. I'm going to grab my jacket and jump into the lake and swim back. I need to get away from him.

After I grab my jacket I jump straight in. I don't care. I just want to get away. I hear a splash seconds after mine and I realise he has also jumped in. I'm glad I'm a strong swimmer and he doesn't catch me.

I climb out of the lake and collapse on the lakeside. I have approximately 2 and a half minutes before he'll get out. Oh wait no, too late. He's already out.

Shit.

"Baby you're behaving madly. I loved and still love your mother with all my heart. You know, I got fired from here for being with your mother but I had to come back because nobody wanted dance lessons after I went. I wasn't going to come back, I had a job back in the city with my uncle but I came back just in case your Mom came back here one summer. And she has. I never knew about the letter. I wondered if she had met someone else or if your Grandad stopped her. He didn't like me because he thought I had gotten Penny pregnant. After we did our dance, he found out that it was Robbie and he came and spoke to me on my own. He said he was wrong and then when your Mom had gone he said that he was sorry, he knew I was right for his daughter. I didn't know what had happened, maybe she had moved?"

I look at him dumbstruck. Surely he couldn't have made up such a convincing story while swimming so rapidly to me.

"Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for those things I said. I believe you, but we need to go and see Mom."

"You're right."

We walk and talk about dancing. He tells me about the evening before my Mom left Kellermans and the dance they did in front of everybody, including Grandad and Max Kellerman. It was exactly like my dream. How strange.

"What does your Mom do nowadays anyway?"

"She teaches dance at a ballet school." He laughed. He had such a nice laugh.

"I should have known. You know, your Mom wanted to change the world to make it better."

"But then you came along and made her world better, so she didn't need to change it." He smiled then. We neared the cabin, but he hing back.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Maybe it's not a good idea. She might go off worse than you did." I looked at him and raised my eyebrows.

"If you knoe Mom at all then you'll know all she'll do is cry and shout. No running off and definitely no swimming." He laughed again.

"Okay, but you go in alone first and then I'll come in after you explain." I was beginning to get excited to reunite the lovers after all of this time. My father definitely still loved my Mom, but what if she didn't feel the same? Oh hell, of course she did, I mean look at her when I asked her about him at breakfast.

I push through the door. Grandad Jake comes over to me straight away with his eyebrows raised and I jerk my thumb toward the door. He goes out silently. That's one, two to go. Next was Nana Marje. She charges towards me whispering:

"Is it true Baby? Is it really him? Your mother has no idea! She thinks you stayed with Sylv at Lisa and Rob's cabin."

"Yeah, Nana he's outside. Okay thank you. I love you." She hugs me and says

"I love you too honey. You know what to do."


	20. You don't own me II

Nana goes outside also. I slowly walk towards my Mom's room, thinking about how to break the news to my Mom. I walk in and find her sitting on the bed listening to Bill Medley's I've had the Time of my Life. She looks around, smiles and beckons for me to sit down. She hugs me.

"I think it's time I told you about your father." I', about to say, actually I think it's time I told you about my father, but I stop myself and nod.

"His name was Johnny Castle."

"Yes." She looks shocked. "How did you know?"

"Did you think it would take me long to work out if you bring me to the place where you met?" I smile. She looks at me and smiles weakly.

"I'm sorry Baby, it's so hard for me to talk about. Everything stopped and he never knew that I was carrying you. I thought that I would be able to get some answers of my own if I came here, but it turns out it was you who got all the answers. My clever Penny." She kisses my forehead.

"There's just one thing I want to ask Mom." She looks at me.

"Go ahead I owe it to you."

I take a deep breath. "How did he die?" I hear her exhale.

"I knew this question would be asked at some point. I honestly don't know. I don't know who sent the letter and my Dad asked Max Kellerman but he didn't seem to get any answers because he had already handed the business down. It was so sudden." Her eyes fill with tears.

"Mom, don't cry. Please."

"But why should everybody else get to be happy but me? We were so in love, I was carrying his child and then suddenly he was gone, along with my heart." She's gulping back tears now and it's enough to make me want to cry myself.

"No I didn't." Says a familiar voice behind me. My Mom closes her eyes. Sometimes I still hear his voice in my head, convincing me our love is still alive even though he's not." Wow. Suddenly my Dad launches past me and grabs her.

"I'm here Baby." Her eyes open in shock. She looks round and starts laughing and crying at the same time, but after a few moments she comes to her senses and pusehs him back. Her hands are on his face and they're looking deep into one another's eyes. I turn and see Nana and Grandad in the doorway.

"I thought you were dead."

"I thought you found somebody else."

They both begin to cry. "Why did you come back?" He asks her. Suddenly, Grandad Jake pipes up.

"Guilty. She didn't want to come back but I made her, convinced her it would be a good idea. You see, Max had told me about a month ago that he had heard Johnny had returned to the mountain long ago but he never knew. He came back this week to see us but he couldn't be sure if it was true. That's why I didn't tell you Frances. I didn't want you to think he was here and then have you find out he wasn't here. And that's why I conviced Baby to go to him, so she could find out for herself to save you the pain of having to explain it."

None of us speak. Good old Grandad. I smile at him and he winks. Then it's Nana Marje's turn to speak.

"But what about that letter? Who would have sent it." Johnny laughs softly and says,

"You know, Baby thought I had sent it because I'd met somebody else. She had a very big tantrum." They both laugh and I say

"But who did send it?" Our thoughts are cut by a knock at the door. I guess we'll have to think about it later. Aunt Lisa, Sylv, Neil, Robbie and Uncle Rob come in so that the whole fmaily are huddled into Mom's small room.

Sylv is first to speak "Oh my God Baby! Is it true? He's your Dad and your Mom's summer romance?!"

"YES!" I shout and we both laugh and hug each other, tears filling in my eyes. Sylv knows exactly how important this is to me.

"I thought you were dead." Says Uncle Rob in his usual unaccommodating voice.

"Yeah well Robbie, so did everybody else here. It's not my fault some low-life didn't want me to see my own child is it? Especially since he could have told the family who really got Penny pregnant, right?"

Oh. Oh right. Yeah. Should've known it would be him who had sent the letter. I shoot a look at Mom and see that she has also realised.

"You are a dirty, disgusting cheating slimeball Robert Gold." My mother says. Wow Mom, good call. I look at my "Dad" and see he's trying not to laugh.

"What is this?" Auntie Lisa's voice now, outraged. "Johnny pretending to be dead hasn't got anything to do with my Rob."

"Lisa." My Mom said now. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to be hurt, and to be totally honest I didn't think you and Rob would be together that long, but there's something you should know. When we came here before-"

"Frances, why are you doing this?" Errupts Uncle Rob. I can't look at Sylv, I just can't. she doesn't need to hear this but she needs to know the truth.

"Because you should have told her before you got married you son of a bitch!" Shouts Johnny Castle. He turns to my auntie. "When you came here in the 60's, and Ba- Frances and I found each other, as did you and Robbie, something had happened. A few weeks before, he had had sex with Penny, you remember the dance instructer? She had an abortion so that she could keep her job. He didn't want you to know and he knew that if I was in your sister's life then there was every chance he could find out. So he cut me out." He turns to Uncle Rob, "Didn't you Robbie."

Robbie doesn't answer he simply looks at the floor. I risk a look at Sylv. She's looking at me and I mouth "I'm so sorry" to her. She smiles weakly and whispers "I knew something like this would happen sooner or later. Don't worry."

Lisa then says "Mom, Dad, is it okay if we leave the kids with you, it's just that Rob and I need to go and have a serious chat about our future."

Grandad says "That's fine honey, you do what you need to do." And kisses her forehead. Nana Marje gives her a long hug and glares at Uncle Rob's back.

After they leave, Grandad takes control of the situation. "Right kids I'm really sorry but we need to have a word with Johnny and Frances. Here's $40, go and get yourselves something to eat. The others go to leave but I hang back. "You too Baby" says my Grandad. Hmph. I get my coat and run out the door, catching up with the others.


	21. Update!

Hello everyone, thank you so much for the follows and reviews, they mean a lot! I'm so sorry I've abandoned the story the past couple of years, chapters will follow tonight!


	22. Chapter 21

As we hover around our cabin after a vast lunch, Sylv and I begin to talk:

"Sylv I'm-"

"No Bavy, it's fine. Really, I'm not upset. I've always felt distant from Dad, he always preferred the others to me. I'm used to it and to be honest the feelings mutual. Don't worry." She smiles. I look at her and I virtually see the weight fall off of her shoulders. She looks different.

She looks like a woman.

Her mousey hair is bouncing around her shoulders as if made from springs, her shoulders seemed more rounded than normal. Her fair skin has caught the sun for once in her life and her legs seem a tiny bit bigger than usual. In fact, she looks positively glowing.

Oh. My. God.

I pull her aside (gently) away from the others.

"Sylv are you pregnant?"

"What?! No! Why would you think that?"

"I don't know, sorry I didn't mean to offend you. I was just looking at you and-"

"Oh alright then. Yeah I am. And there's something you and me need to talk about."

Shit. Fuck. Johnnys got her pregnant and he's told her all about us. I feel like such an idiot. I've been too wrapped up in my own life the past couple of weeks I've hardly paid any attention to Sylv, Jake or Johnny and how they've been getting on. I feel awful. I feel a hard lump rise in my throat and my eyes start to prick.

"Now, Pen, don't take this personally. I love you, you're my best friend and my girl and I want you in my life forever, no matter what."

OK, she definitely knows something happened between Johnny and me. I swallow hard.

"Sylv- I'm so sor-"

"No. Shut up and listen to me before I lose my balls. Basically I really like Jake and he liked me too and we've been seeing each other and this is his baby and I'm so sorry, please don't kill me." She gabbles. I open my squinted eyes to see her with her face in her hands. I envolope her into a hug and hold her tight while she sobs into my 60's outfit, which I realise now was probably my Mom's.

"I'm so sorry Baby."

"Sylv, me and Jake fizzled out. There wasn't really a spark and to be honest I was using him as a distraction from the person I really like. Johnny."

She looks up. "Come off it."

"It's the truth."

Her frown turns into a smile, and then a laugh and soon we're in fits of hysteria.

"I guess we got mixed up" Sylv splutters.

"What's done is done and it's just made us even stronger. Now lets go inside and see what's going on."


	23. Chapter 22

Me and Sylv walk back to our cabin arm in arm. This has got to have been the best vacation ever. I cannot believe that I found my father. Nothing could have prepared me for that. As we approach the cabin we can hear music playing. As we walk in, nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. There in the lounge is the same beautiful couple that I saw in my dream. They dance electric. You can see the chemistry in their moves and for a moment I'm moved to tears. Nana Marje is crying and Grandad Jake is cuddling her. My mother and Father. Together at last. Again. I know that they're never going to lose each other again, you can see it. They have gone back to 1963 and love each other as much as they did then, if not more.

I look over to Grandad Jake and he smiles and beckons us over. He kisses Sylv and I on the forehead and says "Your father is going to be coming back with us Baby, I hope that's okay with you." I smile and then I laugh.

"It's more than okay!" I exclaim. He smiles at that and then he continues. He turns to Sylv: "Sylvia, I hope you don't mind, but you're going to be staying with Baby as well. Robbie and Neil are going to stay with your Grandmother and I. You're welcome to stay with us also but I know how close you girls are." I look at sylv and she's quiet for a few seconds.

"That's okay, I look forward to it."

"You're a brave girl Sylvia, I'm proud of both of you. He envolopes us into a hug ebfore adding: "Oh before I forget, Sylvia, Jake wants to meet you at the art studio and Baby, Johnny wants to meet you at the dance hall."


	24. Chapter 23

Well, that's my story.

Sylv eventually told Grandad Jake about her pregnancy and despite our fears he was delighted. A great grand-child! Sylv and Jake phoned each other three times a week and wrote each other once a week throughout the pregnancy until little Max was born. You got it, he's named after Max Kellerman. A couple of months after he was born, and he is the cutest thing ever, Penny, Billy, Frankie, Jake and Johnny moved onto our street! Mom was so happy and we're all one big happy family now.

Johnny and I decided that it would be best if we went out seperate ways at the end of the holiday. Despite my red hot feelings for him, we weren't fully in love and didn't know if we'd be able to make it work. However, having him live three houses away has definitely changed things and now we're engaged! Oh my God the proposal was so cute, we went to a Bon Jovi gig and he managed to get Jon to ask me to marry Johnny onstage! Johnny got a job being a sound engineer for gigs when he moved to the city you see.

As for Frankie, she was as stony as she always had been, but once Max was born and Johnny and I became engaged she's definitely warmed up. Me, Frankie and Sylv are all best friends now and Frankie is dating a really lovely guy she met at an evening class.

Mom and Dad are as in love as ever. It was weird to begin with to see my Mom with someone, I hadn't experienced it before. Seeing them kissing made me want to vom sometimes but I love them both so much and I am so happy they're together again.

Also, I got accepted into the ballet school! I get to dance all day and pretend it's studying! It's fantastic, I love it so much, I just wish I could practise with Johnny, but he prefers other kinds of dancing, but that's also amazing, just being in his arms is the best feeling.

Everything has fallen into place perfectly. I went on that holiday with one parent and best friend. Now I have both parents and multiple best friends (Though Sylv will always be my best best friend.)


	25. Message to my readers

Hi guys,

Thank you so so much for following, reading and reviewing my story! I wouldn't have continued with it without your support and (constructive) criticism!

I hope you've enjoyed the story, I'm so sorry for leaving it so long, I just couldn't figure out a good way to end it, I hope you've enjoyed it! Also, I got a couple of messages regarding my note posted the other day; my internet went and I couldn't publish any chapters! So sorry about that!

Anyway, like I said I hope you enjoyed the story and look out for me again! If you want me to write you any stories in particular I can and it will be spelled better than this one as I won't stay up extremely late typing it!

Thanks again!

Zoe x


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